Donations and volunteers combine to provide dinners to hundreds in the Westbrook and Buxton area.

Churches in Westbrook and Buxton will open their doors to serve free community meals this Christmas.

At the Westbrook-Warren Congregational Church in downtown Westbrook, the Christmas meal will be offered Friday from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. It will be the ninth year for the longstanding Christmas tradition.

According to Joy Knight, the lead organizer of the event, the volunteers make all the difference. Each year, the meal attracts between 300 and 350 visitors, with some 75 volunteers helping to make it happen.

For the volunteers, this is time they are giving on Christmas Day, time normally reserved for family.

“The volunteers come from the church and the community, from all over the place,” she said, adding that many of the volunteers have participated all nine years.

The church is well known for another of its annual holiday traditions, the Festival of Trees. The festival celebrated its 15th anniversary in early December.

Knight said a group of volunteers come in Christmas Eve to start preparing, setting up tables and bringing in food. She said for all nine years, volunteers from the former St. Pious church in Portland have brought in more than 20 pies for the meal.

“They’re not even from Westbrook,” she said. “It’s quite the commitment, and people look forward to it.”

She said businesses, such as Saco & Biddeford Savings, as well as individual donors, support the dinner annually.

The meal is buffet-style, usually serving items such as chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, stuffing, cranberry sauce and more.

Knight said they offer takeout from the meal, for people who live in assisted-living housing or similar needs.

“You don’t need reservations, you just need to show up,” she said.

Two free holiday meals also will be served in Buxton.

Living Waters Church, 92 Parker Farm Road (at the intersection of routes 22 and 112), is hosting a free Christmas Eve dinner, and Buxton Centre Baptist Church, 938 Long Plains Road (Route 22), is offering a free meal on Christmas Day.

Living Waters Church is inviting the public for a free turkey dinner with all the fixings at 5 p.m. Thursday, Christmas Eve. A short Christmas Eve service is at 6 p.m.

Donna Aikins, a spokeswoman for the church, said about 60 people are expected, and this marks the eighth year the church has had the meal.

“Dot Desjardins is the coordinator,” Aikins said, and “the women’s ministry helps.”

The menu includes turkey, stuffing, potatoes, squash, green beans, carrots, gravy, rolls, pies and other desserts, coffee, tea, drinks; and this year roast pork loin and baked ham will also be available. Aikins said Reilly’s Bakery in Biddeford donates a lot of the desserts.

“We offer this to the community as part of our outreach program,” Aikins said.

At Buxton Centre Baptist Church, a free meal on Christmas Day will be served from noon-2 p.m. at the church. The Rev. Laura Holt-Haslam, church pastor, said ham, turkey, and all the fixings will be on the menu.

“Plenty of food,” Holt-Haslam said. “No one leaves hungry.”

Ron and Betty Weeman are coordinating the free meal, along with a corps of volunteers. Ron Weeman said the food is all donated, and the church has held the meal for a dozen years.

The church is expecting as many as 75 people, and “maybe more,” he said.

Staff reporter Robert Lowell also contributed to this story.